OAs fall short against Rickmansworth

PUBLISHED: 15:20 11 June 2008 | UPDATED: 13:22 06 May 2010

Division Two Rickmansworth 99-10 (31.0) Old Albanian 73-10 (31.2) OLD Albanian showed their more mercurial side in a game of two halves at Woollams on Saturday in Division Two. OA skipper Jon Smithers won the toss

OLD Albanian showed their more mercurial side in a game of two halves at Woollams on Saturday in Division Two.

OA skipper Jon Smithers won the toss and elected to field in the humid but windy conditions. The decision was quickly justified as Rickmansworth were reduced to 13-5 due to Kwesi Roy and Matt Corran destroying the top order, with Corran taking the prize wicket of the Rickmansworth number four batsman.

A steady recovery from the visitors saw them reach 86-5 until Roy struck with two wickets in two balls either side of the drinks break to reduce Rickmansworth to 86-7 and then the visitors were finally dismissed for 99. Roy ended with figures of 7-33 and was ably supported by Nick Berman and Matt Corran.

In reply, the home side were 25 for no wicket until the loss of opener Rehman which precipitated a devastating collapse. Only the resilient Nick Nguyen (30) managed double figures and the home side were dismissed for 72.

OACC 1XI are at home to Flitwick on Saturday and will be looking for their third win of the season in Division Two.

Old Albanian II went away to Chorleywood II in Division Five on Saturday and missed out on a win by one wicket.

Chorleywood won the toss and asked the visitors to bat first. Faraz Khan scored an impressive 53 as OAs posted 166 all out from 50 overs.

In reply, the home side were restricted to 146-9 off 50 overs as they managed to survive. OAs bowled well with Perry Hall picking up three wickets and Tariq Hassan and Tom Preest each claimed a brace of wickets.

Another poor batting display by Old Albanian III cost them a potential 30 points on Saturday at Pirton in Division 11.

Led by an excellent spell from Miles Price (four wickets) the visitors reduced Pirton to 102 all out from 45 overs. In reply, OA III were bowled out for 41 and left searching for their first league win of the season.

In Division 13 OA IV had to battle to claim a draw with Harpenden V at Woollams.

Harpenden were restricted to 136-8 from their 47 overs before OAs dug in with David Hughes (36 not out) guiding them to safety on 118-8 off 43 overs.

On Sunday OAs took on Chorleywood in the First Round of the Herts County Cup.

Winning the toss and electing to bat the OAs started yet again at a rate a decent pace but were unable to last the full 50 overs.

Stylish run-a-ball 30s from Rehman and Reid helped the visitors to a below par 170 with 60 balls still remaining.

The batsmen's failings did give the OA bowlers a stint before the tea interval and Perry Hall bowled a majestic spell to put the underdogs back in the game finishing with 3-23 off 10 including the prized wicket of Dutch 20-20 player Luke Vivian first up.

Jon Smithers once again marshalled his troops brilliantly setting aggressive fields and some sustained pressure from the OA fielders looked to be taking the game to an unlikely conclusion with Chorleywood 84-6 in the 29th. However the home side were always around or above the run rate and recorded a comfortable win with six overs to spare.